Republican Attempts To Impeach Obama are Irresponsible

Whenever Democrats are in real trouble politically, the Republicans seem to come up with something new that distracts the public’s attention from the Democrats’ problems. Who says Republicans are not compassionate?

With public opinion polls showing President Obama’s sinking approval rate, in the wake of his administration’s multiple fiascoes and scandals — the disgraceful treatment of veterans who need medical care, the Internal Revenue Service coverups, the tens of thousands of children flooding across our open border — Republicans have created two new distractions that may yet draw attention away from the Democrats’ troubles.

From the Republican establishment, Speaker of the House John Boehner has announced plans to sue Barack Obama for exceeding his authority. And from the Tea Party wing of the Republicans, former Governor Sarah Palin has called for impeachment of the president.

Does President Obama deserve to be sued or impeached? Yes! Is there a snowball’s chance in hell that either the lawsuit or an impeachment will succeed? No!

Barack Obama’s repeated disregard of the laws that he is supposed to follow, and his blatantly changing these laws passed by Congress, are a threat to the whole Constitutional form of government, on which all our freedoms depend.

Once a president — any president — can create his own laws unilaterally, we are on our way to becoming a banana republic, where arbitrary rule from the top replaces representative government by “we the people.”

Why not sue Barack Obama then, or impeach him?

For the simplest of all reasons: Neither of these actions is going to do anything to stop Obama, or even discredit him — and both can create a distraction that draws attention away from the Democrats’ disasters during an election year.

Either the lawsuit or an impeachment — or both — can hurt the Republicans, by making it look like they are playing Mickey Mouse politics during an election year. President Obama is already making a joke out of Speaker Boehner’s threatened lawsuit by saying, “So sue me!”

Courts don’t like to get involved in cases where one branch of government is suing another — and the Supreme Court does not have to take any case that it does not want to take. Even a lower court can throw out Boehner’s lawsuit as a political issue that does not belong in court. Then it will be the Republicans who will have egg on their faces.

As for impeachment, the House of Representatives can impeach any president they want to. But an impeachment is essentially just an indictment that leaves it up to the Senate to decide whether to vote to remove the president from office.

So long as the Democrats control the Senate, impeachment of Barack Obama is guaranteed to lose. And this too would leave the Republicans with egg on their faces during an election year.

The political fate of the Republican Party is not something that those of us who are not Republicans need to worry about. If they want to shoot themselves in the foot again, so be it.

But all Americans have to worry — and worry big time — about the fate of this country if Republicans blow their chances of taking control of the Senate.

If Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid continues his iron control, President Obama can nominate whatever kinds of federal judges he wants to, knowing that they will be confirmed by the Senate.

Since federal judges have lifetime tenure, this would in effect extend the Obama administration long past the point when Barack Obama leaves the White House. All he needs to do is pack the federal courts with judges who share his contempt for the Constitution and his zeal to impose a far-left agenda at all costs.

This year’s elections — especially the Senate elections — can decide the fate of this country for a long time to come. That is why Republicans’ launching of foredoomed symbolic actions like lawsuits and impeachment is such an irresponsible self-indulgence.

When the country is at a historic crossroads is not the time for futile gestures like this, which can create bigger disasters than we already have.

About Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell has published a large volume of writing. His dozen books, as well as numerous articles and essays, cover a wide range of topics, from classic economic theory to judicial activism, from civil rights to choosing the right college. Please contact your local newspaper editor if you want to read the THOMAS SOWELL column in your hometown paper.

Amen to all that, Mr. Sowell. It seems that only some Democrats have brains enough to see the consequences of impeachment and lawsuits against The One. Republicans lack either brains or foresight; they only want to seem to be anti-Obama, not opposed to him in any substantive way. Republicans are truly irresponsible. After all, they’ve always seconded the Democrats’ plans to erect a welfare state. That’s been going on for at least two generations.

Kathy Gornik

It is dispiriting to think that the process for removing a lawless president is so flawed that it is now referred to as a distraction that will hurt one or the other political party rather than the constitutional means by which we address the illegality of high ranking public officials. The thought of relying on the electoral process to change the direction of this country is even more dispiriting. I am wondering what you think needs to be done? Like many Americans, I am feeling rather desperate as I watch the principles that made this country great wither and die.

writeby

If handled properly, impeaching and removing Obama from office could succeed. Even the Dems in the Senate know when a ship is sinking; and if they recognize that their political lives are on the line, they’ll abandon it as fast as any Republican. Back in their district, some are already distancing themselves from this administration.

If one follows the logic of this piece, then what form of “opposition” are the Repubs to use? Any legislative opposition will just be voted down by the Dem controlled Senate.

So let’s just give up until November, when *maybe* the Repubs retake the Senate?

I say impeach the SOB and, when the vote goes to the Senate, make damn sure the nation knows the issues clearly and the Senate Dems know those opposing it will be loudly “outed” in Nov.

An organized, principled campaign can unseat this corrupt despot.

Remembering JDL

I don’t see how it could be a distraction. I believe your selling the American people short on there ability to remain focused on this presidential catastraphy. However if your right about the people becoming distracted about how terrible our president is,then we are truly doomed as a free country and we will continue our downward spiral into gov’t serfdom.

Remembering JDL

Well said, I totally agree.

Remembering JDL

Yes the republicans lack brains and foresight that’s obvious. But the democrats are complicit in Obama’s plan to fundamentally transform (destroy) our republic, and because of that they don’t want to see him impeached.

Threnody

I agree, except that I struggle to remember the last time a republican used the media effectively. The Senate dems would have to believe the ship was really sinking. Repubs would have to have enough leverage on a enough dems to turn them on the vote and convince the rest a vote for Obama was political suicide.

Bryce Armstrong

Hey Tom remember when the Republicans were stupid for fighting to defund Obamacare? Im starting to see a pattern here.. of a defeatest loser.

DC555

Mr. Sowell is advocating discarding what’s right on principle in favor of political expediency. If Congress doesn’t act to stop him, why not let him become a dictator.

David Lloyd-Jones

“Once a president — any president — can create his own laws unilaterally, we are on our way to becoming a banana republic…”

…and when President Bush, Jr., started signing every bill with a “Signing Statement” saying which bits he would select to consider enforcing, Dr. Sowell was where and said what?

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